Does Moral Transgression Promote Anti-social Behavior? Evidence from Lab-in-the-Field Experiments

Halefom Yigzaw Nigus, Eleonora Nillesen, Pierre Mohnen and Salvatore Di Falco

Review of Behavioral Economics, 2025, vol. 12, issue 1, 39-48

Abstract: Using two lab-in-the-field experiments, we study whether initial transgression leads to subsequent anti-social behavior. In the first stage, subjects participated in an experimental market game. In the second stage, subjects were given an opportunity to participate in anti-social experiment. We find that subjects who impose a negative externality on uninvolved third parties in the market game are also more likely to burn their partner’s income in the second experiment. This finding is consistent with a conscience-numbing effect but could possibly also be explained by participants’ preferences for consistency.

Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:now:jnlrbe:105.00000202

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